Explorer Parent Organization - Executive Meeting
August 18, 2009
6 p.m.
Present: Ted Cohan (co-president), Sherilee Coffey (vice president), Beth Clearman (teacher), Mary Cortinas (teacher), Cheryl Heller (treasurer), Megan Blair-Cabasco (secretary)
Mission statement
Cheryl shared information for mission statement for EPO: 1. Help promote gifted ed 2. Help raise money to support Explorer activities 3. Socially support WWSD Explorer program
Chapter bylaws are from 1987 – need to be rewritten.
Field trips
Expense forms for field trips – to request advance down payments for lodging or field trips, to track costs, student payments, and scholarships..
Beth – Seattle field trip cancelled two years ago. Still believes lots of value in Seattle trip. District has to approve out of town overnights. Beth wants to combine with Future Problem Solvers trip so no additional transportation expense. Would be four overnights total if combined. Teaches economics and social justice topics. But the local trip last year provided good perspective on local economy. Over 2-3 days twenty different stops at different businesses in Seattle: Safeco Field, Oberto, Freestone Capital Management, recording studios, art studios etc.
Separate meeting needs to address field trips – how much funding, whether allowed by district, how to match up with curriculum.
Curriculum
As of now, curriculum at the two middle schools still needs to be matched up.
We have @90 elementary Explorer students at Sharpstein and @93 at middle schools.
Explorer entrance tests
Ted met with Linda Boggs.
Testing now weights MAP and CoGat equally. CoGat should be weighted more.
Ted—Screening may need to be re-evaluated as class numbers bumped up to 32 this year in 3rd and 4th grade. Mary sees that some kids are struggling when they get in. Not physical space for that many students. With 32 students in 3rd and 4th, this is more than 3% of the population.
Membership
EPO membership will be offered at elementary parent info nights Sept 1 & 2.
Treasurer/Fundraising
The board approved reimbursing Cheryl $350.00 for the SENG books purchased for the SENG workshop.
We need a grant writer and fundraising position. We are not an official 501C-3 organization. To receive non-local grants we need this status.
Grants are usually funded one year. Megan has agreed to write grant proposals if needed this year.
Balance as of now is $2,179.00 in EPO account. Our usual is $22,000 in income, $11,000 in expenses.
Mary bought ink and paper for class with classroom money. There will be less money for supplies coming from district.
Curriculum review
Final draft of 2000 report for middle school by district review committee – stipulated that there was Advanced Science class for middle school and Advanced Humanities. Time to do another program review. Committee from the last review was made up of Explorer parents, Explorer teachers, Judy Reault, Administrators from Garrison and Wa-Hi.
Role of EPO
Ongoing challenge for EPO is to be accessible, communicate effectively, provide support to parents and teachers, and help bridge misconception of elitism.
Mary will be hosting family nights monthly this year to highlight classroom learning and projects. EPO may not host social functions since these gatherings will provide a chance for parents to get to know each other and focus on students’ learning.
Approved 10/2/09 by Board
Saturday, October 10, 2009
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